If you do stuff, stuff gets done.......

If you do stuff, stuff gets done.......

Friday, February 10, 2023

Frugal February 10- kitchen reorganized, no money spent

Hello everyone
Well, it was a big job and took a lot longer than I expected
  But I really think my work will pay off with cooking being easier and less frustrating.  


You saw I took everything out of the lower cabinets and also ripped out the old shelf paper and put in fresh - I used some shelf liner  I bought on grocery pickup way back during the shutdown. 


Over view of our kitchen- everything is where it is supposed to be and clean - except the floors need a super-deep cleaning and that’s going to happen soon. 
But one thing at a time, right? 
One of the most frustrating areas is the cabinet storage just over and under the mixer.  It’s in a corner and very hard to get things in and out.  
I’ve had grandchildren fish things out multiple times.  

So,  I tried to not use that corner space as much as is reasonable.  
I previously had cookware in the lower cabinet under the toaster.  
I decided to make it the extra stuff cabinet- stuff we use but not very often.

You’ll see I added a content list to most of the doors.  
The narrow cabinets on each side of the stove seem the most sensible place  to store cookware.
On the left is where that hidden space is. On the top shelf are our saucepans and to the left is nothing but the griddle that came with our stove top that we never use but I figured if somebody else lives in this house, they may want that built-in griddle. On the bottom is my medium-size Dutch oven And to the left of it are some ice trays and some extra drinking  cups 
In the narrow cabinet to the right of the stove are all our  skillets -  Nonstick skillets in the top basket and cast iron skillets in the bottom.

On the other side of the kitchen are two sets of double cabinets on top and bottom. 
This one has four pull out containers. One contains small Tupperware, one contains large Tupperware, on the bottom is a container of jars, 
and the red basket has a hand grader, a salad, shooter, and a vegetable chopper.
 
This cabinet has two crockpots and a rice cooker on the top shelf. On the bottom shelf is a basket of cupcake liners, egg coloring cups, little silicone cups, etc. 
Beside it are other large food containers.

  
Dishes in the left hand cabinet- on the top shelf are an assortment of disposables, because when we have big family meals, we use throwaways. 

This cabinet has travel bottles, straws, cups and glasses,  
a few cutting boards on the top shelf.  


One move that really cut out frustration was moving these big flat  things like pizza pans, cookie sheets, the biggest cutting board, muffin pans- to the pantry. 
They stand up like a library books, and they only take up a few inches in the pantry. But it is so easy to get one out and put the clean ones back.
Previously, they were in baskets in two cabinets and it seems like it was always hard to find the one I wanted and then to put the clean ones away.  

I did do some downsizing. My daughter wanted some things. 
There were some kitchen things that were things I’m not using, but I didn’t really want to get rid of like some nice pans and some extra silverware. I decided to store them on the guest bedroom shelf in case we hear of someone that needs these things.
And crazy as it sounds, we will have grandchildren going to college in a few years, 😱 and when they get apartments, they will need their own pots and pans and silverware.

And I have another container of things that I will put on the local Facebook Buy nothing list.

It’s Friday!
Hope you all have a wonderful weekend



❤️ Rhonda 



















Thursday, February 9, 2023

Frugal February 7, 8 and 9 kitchen clean out, Google Lens, Dollar Tree things for my daughter

Hello everyone 
I’ve spent almost all day working on my kitchen. 

I took everything out of the lower cabinets and some things from the upper cabinets.
Then I  cleaned the shelves and put in new shelf paper.

It was a big job and I am tired. I still want to put some labels on the doors.
Most everything is put back now, and I have a big discard pile.
 And I will show you after pictures tomorrow.



Do you all know about Google lens?
You need the Google app. It was already on my Apple phone and it was also on my husband’s android phone.
It’s very useful if you’re trying to identify something. 
There were some mystery items in that batch of sewing stuff I got Saturday so I tried out Google lens for the first time.
To use Google lens, open the app, and then touch the camera icon.
Then take a picture of your mystery item.

The app will probably tell you exactly what your mystery item’s name is. 
It will tell you what it may be selling for in different places or where to buy one. 
I learned about this app, watching a YouTuber identify items in a thrift store.
I think it’s very useful. My husband thinks it could be useful to identify the name of a part on something when you’re trying to fix it.
So remember your Google app next time you have a mystery. It might be able to help you solve it.



A budget, but very delicious recipe that I made this week is nut bread. The recipe is originally from a Susan Branch  cookbook.
I’ve been baking this for years.
It has no added fat of any kind in the recipe, except for the egg and the butter that is used to grease the pan.


  

We like it a lot. Especially toasted with a little butter on top.

I don’t guess I gave out enough clues about which of the dollar tree items my daughter requested. So I’ll just go ahead and show you.
.
She wanted the gnome, and those little carrots that I did not take a photo of, probably for her tiered tray in her kitchen.

She wanted the coloring tablecloth for her long dining table, they have three school-age children who will enjoy coloring the Valentine tablecloth.
On the right side of the picture, you can see their double entry doors and that is why she wanted the two bunny wreaths. 
And last, the felt bunny garland  will go on their mantle for Easter. 
She currently has felt hearts there for Valentine’s Day.




Nobody guessed  the correct items and I really wasn’t clear enough.
I will host a giveaway of some sort very soon

❤️ Rhonda